Fantasy art

I have always been a fan of fantasy artwork. I think it comes from my love for horror/ Sci Fi movies. As a kid I usually lived my life in my head. Growing up as a kid in a small town in Alaska provided that opportunity to really explore the realm of Dream. The Alaskan landscape was surreal to me as a kid, with it breath-taking landscapes, crystal blue mountains ominously looming over the ocean peninsulas, and its dank and feral forests. I remember being afraid as a kid at the giant boulders that would be strangely placed around the Kenai Peninsula. They were at least 8 ft tall boulders. I was nearly certain there were secret tunnels or civilizations lurking under the boulders, hording the secrets of the world, or harboring some horrid monster from ancient times.

As I got older I started drawing more and more to expand the world in my head. The characters, the environments, the situations. As my talent grew I began to dive deeper into the strange and fantastic, I began reading fantasy books like H.P. Lovecraft's "Dreams of Terror and Death". That book opened a whole new world of esoteric adventures for me to explore. Thus, feeding my ever-growing imagination and pushing me to dive ever deeper into the abyss of artistic inspiration.

I recently got the chance to start working on a trading card game art. The topic of which they gave me was a fantasy character within a specific environment that they wanted. I created a practice piece that I instantly fell in love with. I loved the idea that they gave me a fantasy piece. I usually do more horror orientated work, so this was a good change for me to broaden my horizons in the genre. I have done a few fantasy illustrations in the past, but none that I can truly say that I really enjoyed. Or enjoyed enough to complete. However, I have found that certain tranquility in working on this fantasy piece that I have recently made ready to start coloring. Which will be another blog for a later date. Some artists that inspired me on doing this are Keith Thompson, Wayne Barlowe, Boris Vallejo, Frank Frazetta, et al. But, I got the most inspiration, believe it or not, from the early Nintendo game Rygar. Remember the floating castle at the end? That, and my experiences with Alaskan scenery made for an interesting environmental layout for my fantasy character.

I am really enjoying breaking out of my comfortable art style to create better and more interesting work. Not only does it improve my technical skill as a digital illustrator but improves my overall skills as an emerging professional artist. I hope you enjoy this blog and the artwork that follows it. Thanks for reading.